Last year, the University of Michigan School of Law established the first in the nation student clinic devoted to fighting human trafficking. The school has now received a $300k grant from the U.S. State Department that allows it to partner with a Mexican law school in order to fight the problem at its source. As the National Law Journal reports:

'[H]ere in the U.S., we can do a lot as far as assisting prosecutors and victims of trafficking,' said Bridgette Carr, who directs the Michigan clinic. 'What we can't work on as much is prevention, because we're sitting here in Ann Arbor. The goal is to not have clients.'

One of the goals of the Mexican clinic, which will represent a partnership between the two law schools and a local nongovernmental organization called Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (Center for Migrant Rights), is to educate people about human trafficking. Although it will officially be part of the Mexican law school, the Michigan law school will help set up the clinic.

'This is really an opportunity to see how we can most effectively advocate for these clients on a transnational basis,'Carr said.

The partnership between the two clinics is a real innovation, said center founder and executive director Rachel Micah-Jones. 'Students will provide quality legal representation to vulnerable migrant communities whose legal needs often cross borders,' she said. 'In doing so, students will develop the skills to be transnational advocates in this new economy.'